Those ubiquitous heartburn medications aren’t as benign as you might think. According to Consumer Health Day, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) increase the risk of developing stomach cancer. Studies found that those who took these popular heartburn pills were up to 8 times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer of the stomach.

Watch the video below to learn how you can treat your heartburn naturally and without the use of risky pharmaceutical medications. Read on to discover what other side effects of common heartburn medications have been revealed by recent studies.

Three of the most common PPIs you’ve likely seen in the store are Prilosec, Nexium, and Prevacid. This is not the first time a negative side effect was found to be caused by these drugs. A study published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety noted that, “PPIs have been associated with an increased risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies impacting vitamin B12, vitamin C, calcium, iron and magnesium metabolism…”

Even the FDA, which often times does little to protect the public from unsafe pharmaceuticals, warned the public that Nexium and the whole class of PPIs are linked to Clostridium Difficile. This is a stubborn and sometimes even deadly intestinal infection. The infection is becoming more and more resistant to drugs. Other medical literature has linked PPIs to fractures,calcium and magnesium deficiencies, community-acquired pneumonia, and vitamin B-12 deficiencies. Furthermore, clinical professor at Houston Methodist Hospital, John P. Cooke recently discovered that PPIs might cause blood vessels to constrict; thus PPIs come with a host of cardiovascular risks as well.